Pediculosis Treatment

Historically, the only pediculosis treatment available was a comb used
for removing head lice and eggs (also called nits). Today there are many
more options, with varying degrees of safety, cost, speed and efficacy.
These basically group themselves into five categories: lice combs,
suffocation products, lice chemicals (pesticides), essential oils, and
heated air (dehydration).

Many
of these products are home lice treatments geared toward
self-treatment. However, due to frustrations and difficulty in treating
lice at home, there has been a growing shift toward professional lice
treatments. You may decide that for you, getting the best pediculosis
treatment means having a professional do it for you. See this map
to find some professional lice-treatment centers near you.

Lice Combs

Lice
combs are made of either plastic or metal (our preference) and are used
for manually lifting head lice and eggs out of the hair. If used in
experienced hands, combs can get
rid of lice eggs
and hatched lice very effectively (and safely). A complete comb-out can
be time-intensive. It can sometimes be painful and difficult to do
effectively by beginners. Learn more about lice
combs.

Suffocation Products

Suffocation
products kill lice by plugging their airways (called spiracles). This
treatment group is made up of some common household items like
mayonnaise and Vaseline, as well as commercial products that often use
silicone-based active ingredients. Suffocation products can be quite
time-consuming and messy. They typically have relatively low efficacy in killing
the lice eggs, so multiple applications are usually needed. Learn more
about suffocation
products.

Pesticides

Many over-the-counter and prescription lice
shampoos
contain pesticides. Early on they were quite effective at
killing
hatched lice, but that efficacy has been dropping for many pesticide-based products because of
evolving lice
resistance
to pesticides. Also, pesticide-based lice products typically have low
efficacy in killing the lice eggs, so multiple applications are usually
needed. Learn more about pesticide-based lice
drugs.

Essential Oils

Often advertised as
a "chemical-free" alternative to pesticide solutions, many homeopathic
products now use common essential oils to kill head lice. They can be
safe alternatives to chemical solutions, but they are usually not
regulated by the FDA. Like pesticides and suffocation products,
most remedies made from essential oils also have low egg-killing efficacy, so
multiple applications are usually needed. Learn more about herbal
remedies for lice.

Dehydration

Heated
air is a relatively new way of treating head lice, and scientific data
show it is highly effective. I'm not suggesting you use a hair dryer to
treat your pediculosis, though. The professional AirAllé® lice device
is an FDA-cleared device specifically created to desiccate and kill
lice through heated air. It has been proven to be safe, fast and
effective at killing lice and 99.2 percent of the lice eggs. Learn more about AirAllé.